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Who Is He?

Benjamin Lessard is a young Canadian writer and photographer on a mission to travel the world - Sharing his life's greatest moments, adventures, stories and pictures, he hopes to inspire and educate the world of our beautiful planet and what lies beyond it.

Tag: Inspiration

Is feminism good?

I got asked this exact question from an individual last week, and my answer was pretty constructive and straightforward.

I certainly think the actual REAL definition of feminism is good and it should matter to us all. Fundamentally, this is a human rights issue. Discrimination has no place in the 21st century, and every girl has the right to go to school, stay safe from violence, access health services, and fully participate in her community. Girls should be treated with equal respect and should have same benefits and opportunities.

It’s something that WE all need to care about and invest our time in making sure that all girls have the right to be a girl and not what society forces them to be. You see because investing in girls is one of the smartest things we can do to promote a healthier, more prosperous world. More importantly, it’s the right thing to do. Every girl has the right to be in charge of her future and her fate.

That’s what feminism is all about. I am here to say that I am a feminist and that if we can all support girls, we will have a better society for not only ourselves, but for the future generations to come.

To finish off this post, I want to quote a fantastic woman whom I had the pleasure to meet; she’s an artful vandal named @MissMe. She’s a feminist who stands for the right thing, and that is empowering girls, nothing more, nothing less. What she says is very important and quite frankly the truth.

“To be born with a woman’s body is to bear the unsolicited burden of society’s unresolved attitude to sex.”

This was a free verse poem I’ve written about Inner Beauty in collaboration with my good friend Riya, whom I have known for quite some time now, and I must say, she’s a fantastic writer so please check out her blog as well as her poem! We’ve also collaborated before on previous posts which can be found on both my blog and her blog.

Imagine for a second if the entire existence of love disappeared from our minds and our world forever. And please ask yourself, “What would life be like if love did not exist?” And for those of you who have never experienced such love or has never demonstrated any form of love, ask yourself, “How would it be different?”

Our world is filled with hatred and love, that is the problem. I certainly wish that our world would be filled with only love, I wish we as human beings could banish hatred from our lives forever, but we can’t! But what we can do is focus on the positive, focus on love itself, and through the people we come in contact with, so love can spread to those who haven’t experienced love so that they may share that love with another.

But for many of us, we do not understand the importance of love in today’s society, nor do we know its effect on everyone we come in contact with. I say life without love is an eternity without happiness. The purpose in life is to love and to be happy. No matter what you think, I feel life wouldn’t even exist without love. We are here because of love and we are forgiven because of love. I just have to say, I wouldn’t be happy if I wasn’t forgiven, there would be no point in living. We are forgiven because God loves us. I don’t believe people can be happy without love. People try, but it’s not possible. Nothing else can truly make you happy. Money, fame, power … none of that can truly make a person happy, but love will.

You see, if I show an affirmative action such as love, it causes a chain reaction of that positivity, events, and outcomes. It sparks extraordinary results. But that doesn’t mean anything; it shouldn’t really mean anything if I, if we do not love.

And if you don’t believe that love is important, if you’re aren’t sure if love is even a necessity in our world and as human beings, then you must seriously take a moment to really think about a world without love. Our world would crumble, our nations would crumble, and we ourselves would crumble. So let us not think for a second that love is not important.

“Without love, our lives wouldn’t have meaning because love is the glue that holds mankind together.”

An angel appeared to a young boy today with a heart of gold
With only love to pass on from what I’ve been told
He could feel her sweet tender touch along the sad path he took today
Touched by the hands of grace
All his fear and sorrow were wiped away

Wondering if it was even real or fake
He just doesn’t know
But he felt liberated of all things
Things that don’t usually come and go

Tears started flowing down so gracefully
With kindness she wipes them away
Casting away the darkness and loneliness inside him
That the heart of the angel was so pure
It kindled within him

She showed him with only the touch of her hands
To be free and show love
To never give up hope no matter the situation
To never be burdened by fear
To stand-alone and show compassion
To stay strong and to never lose ambition

He then said to me
That the angel flew gracefully to the heavens above
Watching over him with only a smile
He felt so happy he then pointed to the sky

Thanking God for sending this special Angel friend
Who has a heart so big and gentle
He described it as a dream so perfect and beautiful
Wishing it wouldn’t be the end
He finished by telling me…
That this was the Heart of his Angel friend

Childhood comes and then goes
But once you’re old enough
There’s no going back
But then you remember all the memories
Seeing how you once were
So innocent and pure
With dreams so big and vast
Remembering the songs and smiles
The family gatherings
Knowing that everything will be fine
Not in tune with reality
You think everything is magical with rainbows and unicorns
And you will be forever young

But then it fades away
So quickly you can’t even imagine
Because reality starts to kick in
Confused by what’s happening
You’re going left and right and up and down
Wondering if you’ll ever be okay
Seeing the beauty of the world
Quickly fading away by greed and power
Your mind controlled by the now and the future
Forgetting who you are and who you once were
It’s quite twisted you see
But in the end, it will all make sense
Because you have the power to turn it around
That is if you’re commited and if you want it

Like me, every traveler has something that inspired them to leave their lives behind and follow their dreams of travel. For me, there was that lightbulb moment when I realized: I want more from my life, I want to discover! Getting a taste of Cancun, Mexico was my lightbulb. Why you may ask? Well, because it gave me the opportunity to experience another way of life, another culture. It was then that I realized that traveling was for me.

Since my trip to Cancun, about six years ago, my interests had become consumed by travel. I started reading a lot of travel-related blogs, National Geographic magazines, and travel videos. I’d even go to the local bookstore to purchase the newest edition of National Geographic Travel. So this definitely got my travel juices flowing.

Later on in life, I fell in love with educational T.V. shows showcasing our world, specifically, the Discovery channel. I’d watch hours and hours of its content; I couldn’t get enough of it. This show helped reiterate the fact that I was on the right track and gave me the push I needed.

So travel in itself is very important in a person’s life. Why? Because traveling gives you time to think, ideate, observe and learn new things – culture, food, history. It also gives a lot of time to introspect and understand on how certain things are done around the world.

So in the end, what continues to inspire me to travel are the warm people I meet, the exotic sights and smells, the stunning landscapes and the sense of independence and freedom that travel has given me. And I hope to be an inspiration for others to pursue their ideal lifestyle. With a bit of cash in the bank and an open mind, anyone can go and seek out new adventures!

As for me, my journey around the world is only just beginning, and I can’t wait to see what the future may hold.